TY - JOUR
AU - Mocan,H. Naci
AU - Tekin,Erdal
TI - Catholic Schools and Bad Behavior: A Propensity Score Matching Analysis
JF - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL - No. 9172
PY - 2002
Y2 - September 2002
DO - 10.3386/w9172
UR - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9172
L1 - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9172.pdf
N1 - Author contact info:
Naci H. Mocan
Department of Economics
Louisiana State University
3039 BEC
Baton Rouge, LA 70803-6306
Tel: 225/578-4570
E-Mail: mocan@lsu.edu
Erdal Tekin
School of Public Affairs
American University
4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20016-8070
Tel: (202) 885-6361
E-Mail: tekin@american.edu
AB - Although there is a sizeable literature on the effect of private school attendance on academic student outcomes, the number of studies that investigate the impact of school sector on non-academic outcomes is limited. Using a rich data set, we analyze the impact of Catholic school attendance on the likelihood that teenagers use or sell drugs, commit property crime, have sex, join gangs, attempt suicide, and run away from home. We employ propensity score matching methods to control for the endogeneity of school choice. Catholic school attendance reduces the propensity to use cocaine and to have sex for female students. However, it increases the propensity to use and sell drugs for male students.
ER -